Jane Austen didn’t like the way her mother read Pride and Prejudice aloud. Mrs. Austen read too quickly, “—& tho’ she perfectly understands the Characters herself, she cannot speak as they ought” (Letters,4 February 1813). Jane writes to her sister Cassandra that she’s grateful for Cassandra’s praise of the novel because she has been having “some fits of disgust” recently. She is at home in Chawton without Cassandra, keeping the secret of her authorship from her neighbours and enduring the irritation of listening to her mother’s interpretation of her characters. She can’t control what other people do with the language of her characters, and she can’t control the errors in the printing: “The greatest blunder in the Printing that I have met with is in page 220—Vol. 3. where two speeches are made into one.” She’s just written one of the greatest books in English literature, and she must know she’s accomplished something very important, but the fact that the book is now out in the world being judged and interpreted by others is making her restless.

At our JASNA NS meeting yesterday: one “200th” balloon, plus four that said “50th Anniversary.” Thanks, Anne and Carole.

A few days before this letter, she wrote to Cassandra with the good news that “I have got my own darling Child from London”: Pride and Prejudice had just arrived in Chawton (Letters, 29 January 1813). Jane Austen’s “darling Child” has come to visit, and the way she uses this metaphor, I don’t think she means that the publication of her novel is its birth. When she talks about reading the proofs for Sense and Sensibility, her first published novel, two years earlier, she says, “I can no more forget it, than a mother can forget her sucking child” (Letters, 25 April 1811). If the proofs of the novel are already a nursing child, hungry for more from its creator, the birth of the novel must happen when the author completes the manuscript.

The publication, therefore, must be the mature (revised) child’s introduction to the world, and we could debate the age at which this happens. Pride and Prejudice was born long before January 28, 1813, the date on which it was published. (I’ve sometimes referred to its 200th birthday in 2013, but I ought to be careful to call today the 200th anniversary of the novel’s publication instead.) First conceived of as First Impressions in 1796, the story went through several developmental stages, about which Austen critics can and do speculate, yet we’ll never know exactly what happened as First Impressions was transformed into the novel that would become world famous as Pride and Prejudice. Like any mother, Jane Austen worried about her child at every stage of its development, and about how the life of that child would unfold.

In her letter, when she thanks Cassandra for her praise, Jane acknowledges that despite being bothered by the way their mother read the book aloud, “Upon the whole however

I am quite vain enough & well satisfied enough” (Letters,4 February 1813). She tries to insist to herself and to her sister that she’s happy with the book, yet she immediately turns again to criticism, joking (and I’m quite sure this is a joke, though not all critics have thought so) that “The work is rather too light & bright & sparkling;—it wants shade;—it wants to be stretched out here & there with a long Chapter—of sense if it could be had, if not of solemn specious nonsense—about something unconnected with the story; an Essay on Writing, a critique on Walter Scott, or the history of Buonaparte—or anything that would form a contrast & bring the reader with increased delight to the playfulness & Epigrammatism of the general stile.”

Jane Austen is at the same time completely confident about her achievement in Pride and Prejudice, and utterly unsatisfied with the publication of the novel. Sharing the novel with the world means leaving herself and her work open to criticism, criticism that she hasn’t dealt with History, Literature, and Politics (and she has been criticized many times for not addressing these things directly), and it means allowing other people to read and interpret the story and characters in their own ways.

And my, have those readers ever taken liberties with the story and characters.

I’ll limit myself right now to a very short list of the various responses to Pride and Prejudice: this novel has inspired more sequels, prequels, and adaptations than any of Jane Austen’s other novels. As you already know, even in the last two decades our culture has produced everything from the 1995 A&E/BBC/Colin Firth’s wet shirt tv series, to Bridget Jones’s Diary, to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, to board books designed to introduce babies to the novel. Maybe you’ve already made the connection between these two pieces of information as well: that Stephanie Meyer’s best-selling Twilight books and movies about vampires are inspired by Pride and Prejudice, and that E.L. James’s phenomenally best-selling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey (and its own sequels) began life as Twilight fan-fiction.

Pride and Prejudice sells, and it now sells both itself and a huge range of stories inspired by, or capitalizing on, its own popularity.

When it was first published, the title page said only, “By the author of Sense and Sensibility,” and Jane Austen’s authorship was a secret from nearly all the world. Some members of her family knew, and while she wasn’t ready to tell her neighbours, she clearly took pleasure in knowing that those neighbours knew about the book. She wrote to Cassandra that “you must be prepared for the Neighbourhood being perhaps already informed of there being such a Work in the World, & in the Chawton World!” She found her niece Fanny’s praise “gratifying,” and confessed that “my hopes were tolerably strong of her, but nothing like a certainty.” Sharp, critical, and even cynical at times herself, Jane appears to have been sensitive about her writing, to have longed for praise even as she claimed not to need too much of it. She said of Fanny that “Her liking Darcy and Elizth is enough. She might hate all the others, if she would” (Letters, 9 February 1813).

Countless people over the past two hundred years have joined Fanny Knight and Cassandra Austen in liking Darcy and Elizabeth, and in praising Pride and Prejudice. Most of them have been in Britain, North America, and Australia, but according to The Independent, “China, India, and Russia are beginning to swot up on all things Austen.” The World has known Jane Austen’s “darling Child” for two centuries now, and it doesn’t seem likely to forget Pride and Prejudice any time soon.

I agree with Alex Clark, who makes the excellent point about the “cultural fetishisation” of Pride and Prejudice that “we should separate our regard for a book from all the white noise that surrounds it.” She emphasizes, “That’s not to say that we should wish Pride and Prejudice to be less well thought of than it is.” Yet how do we begin anew to talk about this novel, without wet shirts and zombies, without white noise or shades of grey? We begin at the beginning, of course: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

Let me start by asking you, not about your favourite film adaptation or sequel, but about your favourite quotation from the novel. If you had to choose just one line, what would it be? Here’s mine: “Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters.”

My page Pride and Prejudice at 200 collects all the posts in this series on rereading the novel, along with links to other essays and articles on P&P.

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69 thoughts on “Jane Austen’s “Darling Child” Meets the World”

Sarah, As a father of books and children, I am surprised that JA was delighted in her ” ‘darling child’ ” but “utterly unsatisfied with the publication of the novel” because it meant “sharing the novel with the world” and “allowing other people to read and interpret the story and characters in their own ways.” Such an intelligent and insightful commentator on human relations must have known that as a child grows older, a parent has to let her/him go in the world and must suffer or enjoy whatever the public’s reflections on their progeny may be. – Hugh

Choosing a favorite passage is so difficult – there are so many wonderful, witty observations by the narrator, Elizabeth, and Mr. Bennet. But one of my favorites is in Chap. 59 just after Darcy and Elizabeth become engaged and before she tells her parents: “Elizabeth, agitated and confused, rather knew that she was happy than felt herself to be so.”

This might be one of the wisest comments on love in all literature. While the intense emotion of love might seem ideal and even sublime, emotions and feelings are not permanent. Elizabeth’s form of love is based on a gradual coming together of two reasonable, sensible people. She is not giddy; she is content and certain of her choice. He is not the most romantic man, but he is the “right” man for her. I love it that in Pride & Prejudice, Austen shows us a loving relationship based on mutual respect and compatibility (in Darcy’s & Elizabeth’s friendship/romance), and also reveals the result of marriage based on early infatuation and physical attraction only (in the Bennet marriage).

This line is such a great choice — and I know how hard it can be to choose just one. I really like what you say about the “gradual coming together of two reasonable, sensible people.” Yes, there is passion, and love, and respect, and a very strong attraction between Elizabeth and Darcy, but I agree that it isn’t giddiness. It’s a really interesting idea that she knows she’s happy more than she feels it. It sounds more like a deeper contentment or joy than the kind of happiness that might be described as “fun.”

Elizabeth’s happiness includes all the uncomfortable things that come with sorting out how to break the news to her family. Life can be difficult, even in the happiest moments.

And the first part of that sentence is revealing, too: Darcy is more reserved than Elizabeth, but there’s something very similar about their experience of happiness and the joy of mutual affection: “Darcy was not of a disposition in which happiness overflows in mirth.”

Thanks for your comment, and for drawing attention to this important quotation!

Thanks, Sarah. I am also re-reading PP to celebrate, reading out loud. I so hope we have beautiful voice anthologies of PP as audiobooks…here’s hoping someone had a recorder on in Chicago, at Chawton Cottage Museum, and other readathons. I often think her writing is so easily translated into screenplays due to her intended audience, a group reading her novels out loud. Will follow along with you and add further comments as I re-read. What a great celebration!

I looked ahead to find my favorite passage. In Chapter 37, is the most insightful passage to me and the one I always first remember when thinking of PP. It’s hard to pull just one line, I love the whole paragraph. “Till this moment, I never knew myself.”

This is one of the best sentences in literature, confirming humans can change, have the free will to change, and do change when facing the worst in themselves. It not only reflects her understanding of psychology, but also her faith.

What a powerful line. Great choice — this idea is so important in Austen’s other novels, too. One of the things that’s so appealing about P&P is that it does show how people can change and learn from mistakes. It’s inspiring (and not just a fantasy, as Sheila Heti suggested in The Globe and Mail the other day).

Good point about the connection between screenplays and Austen’s intended audience. I hadn’t thought about it that way before, and it makes a lot of sense. She’d be imagining the words being spoken, rather than read silently. Thanks, Lynn!

Is this the line you’re thinking of? “I am only resolved to act in that manner which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.” It’s one of my all-time favourites as well — I quoted it in the opening paragraph of my book on JA (Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues). I’m really interested in the idea that she’s determined to consider not only her own personal happiness, but her happiness in the context of those people who are connected with her.

My favorite line goes something along the lines of “she looks rather cross, she will do him very well for a wife.” Definately a paraphrase, but for some reason I just love Elizabeth’s assessment of Lady Catherine’s daughter. As much as I love Pride and Prejudice though, I would say Emma is better…by a tiny margin. 🙂

JA’s novels are priceless. As a fellow author, I appreciate her style of honesty and emotion. Nice blog Sarah, feel free to drop by mine sometime; I write on world issues and often provide something motivational for my readers 🙂

I have had a number of different favorite lines over a period of time. But what am choosing in the bicentenary year is: “Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do” ( Vol 1, chapter XX). There is a wonderful economy here; it is also another example of Mr. Bennet’s great lines. The next sentence is perfect: “Elizabeth could not but smile at such a conclusion of such a beginning.”

It’s a little long, but I just love the passage when Mr. Collins tells Lizzie that he must apologize to Mr. Darcy, and she’s cringing on the inside. Probably thinking, “Don’t do it. Don’t do it.” Mr. Collins. Poor pathetic goober!

“I have found out,” said he, “by a singular accident, that there is now in the room a near relation of my patroness. I happened to overhear the gentleman himself mentioning to the young lady who does the honours of the house the names of his cousin Miss de Bourgh, and of her mother Lady Catherine. How wonderfully these sort of things occur! Who would have thought of my meeting with, perhaps, a nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh in this assembly! I am most thankful that the discovery is made in time for me to pay my respects to him, which I am now going to do, and trust he will excuse my not having done it before. My total ignorance of the connection must plead my apology.”

Oh, Mr. Collins! And then he tells Elizabeth, “Pardon me for neglecting to profit from your advice, which on every other subject shall be my constant guide, though in the case before us I consider myself more fitted by education and habitual study to decide on what is right than a young lady like yourself.” He soon forgets his promise to follow her advice on all future subjects.

Publication is akin to handing your daughter over to her groom, always with worry and anticipation, often with pride. After the book’s release, it is for the public to love or hate, lavish with attention or ignore, leave forgotten or immortalize, respect and honor or maltreat, abuse, beat to a pulp. A husband to his wife can do the same. The publication of a book, to emphasize the first two syllables of the world, is privacy made public, always a bittersweet affair.

I love Pride and Prejudice so much that to this day I have read and re-read the book so many times that I’ve lost count.It is simply captivating.And to choose the phrases or lines that I love the most is a difficult thing to do because it would cover almost 90% of the book(or maybe the whole:).

However the favorite 5 lines I would love for the rest of my life are:

1)“A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”

2)“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”

3)“Till this moment I never knew myself.”

4)“I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”

Congrats for FP, Sarah. I am so glad to see your post. I am a big fan of Jane Austen. For a while, I bought all her books and other related literature, watched all the movies or TV series many times. I even suggested to my office reading this book as a special reading since people were asking for our suggestions of “read a book” but nobody wanted to! Currently, of course I bought the kindle version of her complete works. So I can have access to her books anytime. Since you are asking for quote, and kindle is so handy, I found the first sentence of the book already highlighted by 80 people. Well, here’s the famous quote ” it is a truth universally acknowledged , that a single man, in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”.

Oops you were not asking for a famous quote. Your line is great. I will let you know which is mine when I am ready!

Thank you! That’s too bad no one in your office wants to read P&P. Good thing you can discuss Austen online — have you found Austenprose.com? There’s plenty of discussion there, and also a great list of Austen-related blogs: http://austenprose.com/links/. Looking forward to hearing which line you choose….

I am a huge fan of pride and prejudice and I loved reading your article.
My favourite quote would have to be –
““I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”
Another favourite would have to be –
“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”

Thanks for this post. I have loved this novel since high school and that was a long time ago. I couldn’t pick a single phrase. I have read it many times, even used it in a college paper. Loved the movie with Knightly in it. Great way to share an afternoon with a literary daughter.

In vain I have struggled, it will not do. My feelings will not be repressed – you must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. In declaring myself thus I am fully aware that I will be going expressly against the wishes of my family, my friends and I hardly need add my own better judgement. The relative situation of our families is such that any alliance between us must be regarded as a highly reprehensible connection. Indeed as a rational man I cannot but regard it as such myself – but it cannot be helped. Almost from the earliest moments of our acquaintance I have come to feel for you a passionate admiration and regard, which despite all my struggles has overcome every rational objection and I beg you most fervently to relieve my suffering and consent to be my wife.

“You could not have made me the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it.”

Andrew Davies is very good at writing dialogue for scenes in which Austen describes, rather than quotes, what her characters say. I really like the detail he adds about how it was “almost from the earliest moments of our acquaintance” that Darcy admired Elizabeth.

I also like your favourite quote – particularly as it reminds me of doing my English Lit A-level where I had a bit of an ‘Educating Rita’ moment with an essay about Jane Austen’s inevitable happy endings.

Personally I love the passage about landscape and travelling where Austen makes fun of people who claim to be so attentive to their surroundings and discoveries when exploring, but then can’t remember where they’ve been and what they saw where when they get home:

‘ “Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What are young men to rocks and mountains? Oh! what hours of transport we shall spend! And when we do return, it shall not be like other travellers, without being able to give one accurate idea of anything. We will know where we have gone—we will recollect what we have seen. Lakes, mountains, and rivers shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations; nor when we attempt to describe any particular scene, will we begin quarreling about its relative situation. Let our first effusions be less insupportable than those of the generality of travellers.” ‘

To be fair, it happens to the best of us – thank goodness for journals digital photography.

My proper favourite quote though has to be:

‘ “Heaven and earth!—of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?” ‘

Thanks for these. I love that passage in which Elizabeth says she’s determined to be an intelligent traveller. She’s irritated with all the young men she knows – “I am sick of them all” — and when her aunt suggests that she sounds disappointed, she redirects her anger at anonymous tourists, “the generality of travellers,” who don’t understand or remember the places they visit.

And Lady Catherine and the “shades of Pemberley” — yes, that’s an unforgettable line.

I enjoyed reading your description of finding “Pemberley by Accident.” You sound like Elizabeth, preferring the grounds to the house. “She must own that she was tired of great houses,” and “she longed to explore” the windings of the stream and “narrow walk” in “a spot less adorned than any they had yet visited.”

I am afraid of leaving a quote, not because I haven’t read the book, but because I have been thoroughly corrupted by everything out there. I may have started with the book but I have since seen all the movie variations including the BBC series, the Keira Knightley movie, bride and prejudice (bollywood) and a modern day version set in America. I also read the book with zombies and one of the shortened children versions. I however want to add that it always bothers me that Charlotte Bronte, whom I also love did not like Austen’s works. What gives?

It’s so interesting that all the versions get mixed up together. Once you’ve read, or seen, them all, it can be very hard to focus on the novel itself. Worth doing, though, I believe! I hope you’ll join us here over the next few weeks to reread the original novel in all its glory.

My (current) favourite two are: “I often think,” said she [Mrs. Bennet], “that there is nothing so bad as parting with one’s friends. One seems so forlorn without them.”

“This is the consequence, you see, Madam, of marrying a daughter,” said Elizabeth. “It must make you better satisfied that your other four are single.”

Truly ‘light, bright and sparkling’.

The second is, “How despicably have I acted!” she cried. — “I, who have prided myself on my discernment! — I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity, in useless or blameable distrust. — How humiliating is this discovery! — Yet, how just a humiliation! — Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly. — Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either were concerned. Till this moment, I never knew myself.”

Thanks for contributing your favourites. “Till this moment, I never knew myself” is definitely at the heart of the whole book. I love that line too, and indeed that whole passage. And Mrs. Bennet is always amusing, if also exasperating.

I first read Pride and Prejudice when I was about 13 and have since re-read the novel many times. I couldn’t choose one favourite quote, however here are a few memorable ones for me:
‘”Yes,” replied Darcy, who could contain himself no longer, “but that was only when I first knew her, for it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my aquaintance.”‘
‘”Certainly, sir; and it has the advantage also of being in vogue among the less polished societies of the world. Every savage can dance.”‘
I love the scathing comments made by Mr Darcy :-), always make me chuckle. Another quote, which almost always seems to stick in my mind is:
‘She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both-by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.’
Aaah reading your blog has put me in the mood for reading the novel again, however sadly I am far too busy reading other books for uni. I found the article very interesting, however I don’t really indulge in any of the spin-offs. I also have read or heard that Jane Austen’s mother found Fanny Price somewhat insipid and described her as her least favourite heroine (please do correct me if I am wrong there :-)). I have also read that whilst in a gentlemen’s club in London, Henry Austen overheard someone talking about Pride and Prejudice and stating that it could not have been written by a woman as it was too witty.Thanks for this post, lovely to read someone writing something intellectual about Jane Austen, as oppose to another spin-off (I don’t mind them too much, but there are so many!) :-).

I love the following quote and use it on my blog as the header. Although the quote on my blog comes from the movie and is shortened. I love this best as I relate well to Mr. Darcy… Once my good opinion is lost, it is lost forever as well. 🙂

“I cannot forget the follies and vices of others so soon as I ought, nor their offences against myself. My feelings are not puffed about with every attempt to move them. My temper would perhaps be called resentful. My good opinion once lost is lost forever.”
-Fitzwilliam Darcy

Excited to read your future posts. I read Pride and Prejudice in the 6th grade along with Emma and Persuasion. I understood something but when I re-read the books in high school, it was a revelation. Along with Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice is a book that somehow I’ve re-read every few years. One of my favorite lines (already repeated by many others in the comments): “I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”

oh and “I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

Welcome to the conversation, and thanks for sharing your favourite lines. There’s nothing wrong with repeating and rereading the best quotations! One of the wonderful things about rereading Pride and Prejudice is remembering that it’s a novel about the importance of reading and rereading, as Elizabeth rereads Darcy’s letter until she knows it by heart.

Its good to see Jane Austen appreciated so much. I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, I also live quiet near to her home in Steventon Hampshire, I live in Bournemouth Dorset. I have been to Bath too its one of the most beautiful towns in England. I just wanted to stop by and say hello its a great blog/site you have about Jane Austen I enjoyed reading it and could really feel your passion it almost jumped off the page!

I first read Pride and Prejudice when I was 11 years old and I still love it today. I must have read it at least a dozen times. Although Jane Austen’s wit sparkles in the novel’s conversation, my favourite passage is more a private reflection of Darcy’s.
“But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes.”
I see this passage as a recurring theme in Austen’s novels – the triumph of inner beauty and the importance of attitude seems to be what wins Darcy over, not the first flush of youthful good looks.

Interesting choice — thanks for commenting. We don’t hear Darcy’s perspective very often. Good point about Austen’s interest in intelligent faces. I hope you’ll continue to participate in the discussion here about rereading Pride and Prejudice. I’m planning to write about Mr. Darcy specifically next week, on Valentine’s Day.

I have many favorite quotes, but one I use often is “I am most seriously displeased” which was said by Lady Catherine after her visit to Elizabeth’s home as Lady CdB was taking her leave. Here is the fuller context: “I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet: I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased.” (from Pride and Prejudice, of course!)

Welcome!

I write about Jane Austen, Jane Austen for kids, and Edith Wharton. Sometimes I post about other writers I admire, such as L.M. Montgomery, and about places I love (especially Nova Scotia and Alberta). I taught writing at Harvard University before I decided to come home to Nova Scotia to write full time.

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A new blog series celebrating 200 years of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

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"I must keep to my own style & go on in my own Way; And though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other." Jane Austen to James Stanier Clarke, 1 April 1816

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